KRAKEN WEEKLY: Jason Botterill joins, past the Thanksgiving checkpoint (12/2)

The Dec. 2 installment of Kraken Weekly with Mike Benton, Everett Fitzhugh, and Al Kinisky. Comments after Tuesday's practice from head coach Lane Lambert are included, along with a Kraken Weekly drop in from general manager Jason Botterill. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Got the karaoke mic?

Speaker 2 (00:01):
What what fee?

Speaker 1 (00:04):
I'm saving this year for the outtakes or for the intro.

Speaker 3 (00:08):
Simply we call him when we need him. His hearts
on fire.

Speaker 1 (00:15):
This is Cracking Weekly Karaoke edition.

Speaker 4 (00:18):
Barrel Barrel Bots walking to the door, ready to talk
some high.

Speaker 3 (00:24):
Cap barrel barrel, barrel, barren barrel. He comes to me,
breaks me everything I need.

Speaker 1 (00:34):
This is Jordan Everley, This is Vince Done. This is
Jaden Schwartz. This is Jared mccannon, This is Ryan Ndren,
this is Madders. You're listening to Cracking Weekly with Mike
ben Well. This isn't carpool karaoke edition for Cracking Weekly,
but we decided to light the mood up here with
show tunes, with classic tunes, whatever tunes that certainly suit

(00:57):
your fancy. Are we onto something?

Speaker 3 (00:59):
Well?

Speaker 1 (00:59):
Well, to Cracking Weekly once again, podcasted as usual every week,
this time rebubbing this here to Tuesday to a common
data special guest joining us. That's Cracking GM Jason botteroll
more on that in a bit, but again. You can
catch this podcast every week on demand by subscribing to
the Crack and Audio Network via the iHeartRadio app. Again
just sign up for free to get it by simply

(01:21):
going sports radio kjar dot com myself. Ever a bits
you al Kadiski with us in just a bits is
we're ready to get to head coach Lane Lambert and
his comments after a Tuesday practice the crack in handling this.
We have plenty of off days in between after a
last last Saturday against Edmonton and then not getting back

(01:42):
after it until Thursday facing the same team, so plenty
of downtime and plenty of practice time to take advantage
how the Kraken did. So we'll hear from Lane Lambert,
plus additional injury updates and also our conversation with cracking
GM Jason Botterrel. This is gonna be a fun one.
You won't want to miss this case we get deeper
into the show. We talked with Jason Bottrell of course

(02:05):
on the Kraken direction under Lane Lambert at this point
of the season, how structure is their aid. Getting deeper
into the season, more trade market talk potentially, more Berkeley
Catton World Junior's talk, potentially, the goaltending situation, prospect development,
and much more. Jason Botterrell joining us here in just

(02:26):
a bit well to kind of get right to it
as far as the end result, the Kraken dropping a
three to two loss to Dallas this last Wednesday, one
day before Thanksgiving, and then came out of it with
a matinee affair on Saturday with a four to nothing
loss to the Edmonton Oilers, which also featured an emotionally
fueled contest latter portion of the game, but Edmonton pulling

(02:49):
away after the Krakens squandered plenty of power play time,
including a five on three in the latter portion of
period one. Ryan nuchen Hopkins, in his first game back,
had a multi point game, and Andrea Saddle with Connor
McDavid the usual suspects, winding up on the scoreesheet, giving
Stewart Skinner a twenty six save shutout well the Krack

(03:11):
and responding with spirited practices to open the week at
Crack in Community ice Plex, additionally with a pretty creative
twist involving the use of small area games, while we
learned a little bit more about how young players are
fitting into the lineup, plus injury updates with Jared mccannon,
who left the ice early in practice on Tuesday, plus

(03:33):
Mason Marchmen and Brandon Montour, who have not been seen
at all this week. Montour we learned nursing and aggravated ailment,
while Mason Marchmen after Monday was held out due to
maintenance day reasons. After practice, Lane Lambert, sharing more beginning
with the update for the players on the shelf on
the cracking side.

Speaker 2 (03:54):
Said Canny, yeah, sure you see the care here.

Speaker 5 (03:57):
He'll be Yeah, he'll be fine as far as I
know right now.

Speaker 3 (04:00):
Anyway, Marchmoth and minds as yesterday.

Speaker 5 (04:04):
Yeah, just what I would say is day to day. Certainly,
I'm expecting Money to be back for the Edmonton game,
and I'm hopeful that Marchmen will be as.

Speaker 1 (04:15):
Well, and so small air games going on at the Friends.
So once you take away from how the guys were really.

Speaker 4 (04:20):
Getting engaged in all and how that kind of helps
be directionally.

Speaker 5 (04:24):
O, well, I mean we uh, you know, we you
have three days of practice in a row. You know,
you break it up a little bit by doing something
different today. But at the end of the day, you know,
I think it's important we focused on again tight area
stuff and making sure that we can uh you know,
make plays in tight spaces, tight areas and and I

(04:46):
thought we accomplished that today. It was an offensive day
to a certain degree, but it was also a competitive day.
We drafted teams before and the guys, uh, you know,
the guys competed with each other, so it was good.

Speaker 3 (05:00):
There were the team captains for.

Speaker 1 (05:02):
The draft, right and Kat and how.

Speaker 5 (05:08):
It was a back and forth. Yeah, and they knew
what the practice was going to be so they could
draft their teams accordingly.

Speaker 3 (05:14):
How does it help the guys.

Speaker 1 (05:16):
You keep talking about offense, but to have more offensive offensively,
mind your toils and finish.

Speaker 2 (05:20):
That she got to see those pucks game.

Speaker 5 (05:23):
Yeah, I mean, at the end of the day, I thought,
let's let's be clear, our goaltenders did a great job today.
They were under siege the whole time, tired, so they
did a great job.

Speaker 3 (05:32):
But yeah, I mean, we just.

Speaker 5 (05:33):
Have to we have to continue to to do things
like that. It's great to always see I mean as
a player, whether it be practice or games. Practice sets
you up for games and so you know, to see
the pucks going the net. It's a good thing.

Speaker 6 (05:45):
I won't ask you their names if you don't want to,
but to anyone stand out or surprise even should know, practice.

Speaker 5 (05:52):
I thought, you know, for the most part, I thought
we you know, we had quite a few goals, so
and you know, you're looking at different things. Obviously we're
zero for three in the shootout and we've scored two
on I think maybe eleven shots. You're looking for, you know,
anything or anybody that can potentially, you know, maybe.

Speaker 3 (06:12):
Surprise you, like you say.

Speaker 5 (06:14):
So, you know, it's a good exercise for us to do,
and we'll continue to do it a little bit more language.

Speaker 4 (06:18):
You ever put a defender out shootout?

Speaker 3 (06:21):
Yeah? Why not?

Speaker 5 (06:22):
You know, there's there's plenty of offensive defensemen that can
take a shootout for sure.

Speaker 2 (06:27):
When we talk.

Speaker 3 (06:28):
About developing offense, and we keep asking about this.

Speaker 4 (06:30):
Player, but Brickley Catton does look like he's taking steps
every single game, even though the pod hasn't gone in it.
What details of his game are you seeing come into better.

Speaker 2 (06:40):
And better focus.

Speaker 5 (06:42):
Just his positioning, where he's at, where he's at on
the ice, the understanding from him of where he needs
to be in order to get available get pucks in
space so he's able to use his positioning, and then
an understanding when he's coming up the ice on rushes.
You know, things are way different than they are in
the Western Hockey League. I can tell you that they're

(07:02):
different than they are in the American Hockey League. Care
and you know, he's a bright kid. You don't necessarily
have to tell him something twice. And you know there's
things that he's figuring out on his own as well.
So you know, I just see I just see him
continuing to grow. I know he hasn't scored yet. That
I mean, obviously we'd love it. That isn't really bothering me.

(07:27):
I think that when he does, I think they're gonna
come in bunches. To be honest with you, I.

Speaker 4 (07:31):
Talked to Hims about some conversations he's had with Berkeley,
just about keeping that confidence.

Speaker 2 (07:35):
Does he's seeing confidence in this game?

Speaker 5 (07:37):
Mm hm?

Speaker 4 (07:37):
Do you have intentional conversations with Berkeley or do you
just let him.

Speaker 2 (07:40):
Come and continue to grow?

Speaker 4 (07:42):
No.

Speaker 5 (07:42):
I talked to Berkeley, you know, and again, like a
young player in the league, I was the same. You know,
it's tough when you're not scoring. But I don't see
him as lacking confidence. So I don't see him as
you know, turning, you know, getting rid of the pock,
so to speak. He wants that puck and for me,
it's only a matter of time.

Speaker 3 (08:02):
For him Lang, what.

Speaker 7 (08:03):
Is a stretch a practice at time? Off to these
guys to reset a bit, realize that you have a
promist credit so far to go.

Speaker 5 (08:13):
Yeah, no, you know what, that's a great point by you.
I appreciate that because we talked about that as a team,
just where we're at. You know, you sometimes you get
so lost and focused in the last game or two. Like,
to be honest with you, Dallas, I thought we played
a great game. I thought we could have won that
hockey game Edmonton. I don't think any of us were
happy with the Edmonton game, and they brought their a game.

(08:35):
You know, there are two big guys were going and
you know it was what it was. We spent too
much time on our zone and all that stuff. But
sometimes you can lose lose sight of where you're at
based on just a you know, a most recent and
you know it's kind of what have you done for
me lately? I get that, But at the same time,
you know, I think for us to get back to
practicing and to have some conversations about where we're at

(08:58):
and where we want to go, and you know, where
we need to improve and continue improving and be able
to work on those things on the ice as opposed
to just talking about them, say in the film room
or whatever. When you when you've got a schedule as
hectic as we've had, and we actually have a hectic
schedule coming up, like we're just going to play a
play play, so we've got to find a way to
fit a little bit more practice in. But it's a

(09:20):
it's good that you brought that up because they have
put themselves in a good position to this point. We've
worked hard, they've been hard to play against, and we
just have to, you know, continue to grow on the
offensive side and be harder to play against.

Speaker 1 (09:32):
There, Plaine is Yanni has been in and out of
the lineup.

Speaker 3 (09:35):
Where is this game at right now? And what are
you looking for?

Speaker 8 (09:38):
Wants to get back in more.

Speaker 5 (09:39):
On a game by game base, Yeah, you know Yanni.
He one thing about Yanni, he wants the puck as well,
and he competes. You know, if you look at his
last couple of games, he had three shots in the Island,
he had three shots on goal. I believe in Detroit
as well, you know, And with Yanni it's it's you know,
for him, it's a little bit of just opportunity number.

(10:00):
Where does he fit in terms of where does that
fourth line fit kind of thing if that's where he goes.
And you know, Marchminton, Schwartz, you know, have been you know,
up on those top two lines. Jan He's gonna be
a you know, a top six player in this league someday,
but he's got to start somewhere. And I've loved the
way he comes to practice every day. I've loved the
way he's competed, you know. And he's a guy who

(10:21):
can score. So with us lacking a little bit of
production here obviously, you know, we're looking for him to
put the buck in the.

Speaker 3 (10:28):
Back of the net.

Speaker 1 (10:28):
It's tight eleven seven and six for the crack end
twenty eight points right now in the second wildcard spot,
and they're one point ahead Chicago, Edmonton and Utah the
crack and also one point back of San Jose waking
up here today on Tuesday. All right, those awards from
crackenhead coach Laine Lambert coming out of practice early year

(10:49):
today and I think coming out of karaoke right now,
they're all done. Everett fits you al Kadisky. We've got
to incorporate more of these openers now for the radio
show that was bor relying thirty two thoughts as not
to steal, not to steal. But you know, I think
we're kind of, you know, bordering on some new frontier.
I don't know if we're ready yet here for a cracking,

(11:09):
cracking weekly karaoke, but you have pipes a lot better
than me as far as singing. You might be onto something.

Speaker 3 (11:16):
Stay ready, we stay ready for some cracking karaoke.

Speaker 7 (11:20):
I mean, you find the right place on the road
with us and you might just get some cracking karaoke from.

Speaker 3 (11:26):
A man ever over here.

Speaker 4 (11:27):
Hey, there's an auction item right there, cracking road trip.
We're not gonna pay for you to come, but if
you find yourselves in a city on and off day,
we'll take it to a karaoke spot and we'll see
there you go.

Speaker 1 (11:39):
If anybody, if anybody is listening here and either knows
James Stuckey, one of the on the Cracking Equipment staff,
or knew him back from his time with the Everett
Silver Tips, you have got to ask him as far
as his go to karaoke playlist. I was frightened for
years to do karaoke, and he finally got it out

(12:00):
of me on a road trip one year with the
Silver Tips. That's the influence of James Stuckey.

Speaker 3 (12:05):
Yeah, but he's got his go to though.

Speaker 7 (12:08):
Karaoke go tos are different than your favorite songs, right.
I have a lot of favorite songs that I would
never dare attempting to sing on a microphone. So you
have to know your limitations, and unfortunately I have not
done it enough to know what my limitations are. But
you know what they say, Dance like no one's watching,

(12:29):
sing like no one's listening.

Speaker 4 (12:31):
And nothing is worse in karaoke than the one person
who's actually good at singing. Like it's one thing to
have stage presence and have a control over the crowd,
which what you need. I don't want you, like as
a finalist on Seattle's Idol, right, like.

Speaker 3 (12:48):
You're supposed to be.

Speaker 1 (12:48):
It kills the whole purpose of it, right, it's for entertainment.

Speaker 3 (12:52):
I don't I don't want you if you had a record.

Speaker 4 (12:55):
Deal at a certain point, if you have a CD out,
No do they say his.

Speaker 2 (13:00):
Album You're out here a record?

Speaker 3 (13:03):
Yeah, if you have a record thank you.

Speaker 4 (13:04):
If you have an eight track tape out here floating around,
I don't want.

Speaker 3 (13:07):
You a karaoke right.

Speaker 7 (13:09):
There's a there's a place up in ken Moore, and
I have not been there yet. I've heard about it.
But the worse you are, the more the crowd cheers
you want. Yeah, they are encouraging you to keep it going.

Speaker 3 (13:19):
And I love that.

Speaker 4 (13:20):
There's a speet little hidden speakeasy in Vegas that I
wandered into.

Speaker 3 (13:25):
Last year by mistake, and they were doing.

Speaker 4 (13:27):
Live band karaoke, and uh, I didn't have an enough
course light in me to.

Speaker 2 (13:33):
Get up there and do it.

Speaker 3 (13:34):
But I was like, I gotta want to, I gotta
want to do it. Want to do it.

Speaker 1 (13:40):
Also, if anybody wants to peek behind the curtain.

Speaker 2 (13:46):
You know the words.

Speaker 1 (13:57):
We're just gonna end the show now, aren't we. Let's
drop Mike walk off stage.

Speaker 3 (14:03):
The banter has now ended.

Speaker 1 (14:07):
If anybody, I mean, I think I think we should
should should should just end it right here. Jason Botterol
will talk to you next week. It's all good, it's
all good. Sorry you've been bumped out for karaoke. It
takes me back also to I think one of my
favorite team bonding initiatives I've seen in my previous stops,
and was actually on a team bus rookie karaoke. The

(14:27):
thing is. The thing is you have to put earbuds
in your ears, and you have to take the random
song that one of the captains assigned to you, and
then you got to sing it with no audible music
track on the bus. It's just you sing an a cappella,
but you've got the sound in your ear So can

(14:48):
you imagine twenty of your teammates rooting you on because
you're just falling all over the place a cappella, but
yet you at least have the comforting silence of the
earbuds with the with with the actual audio track to
guide you along.

Speaker 3 (15:04):
Phones are no phones like this?

Speaker 7 (15:06):
Is this something that's allowed to be recorded because I
can tell you thirty years ago no one had cameras.

Speaker 2 (15:11):
On the bus.

Speaker 3 (15:12):
Oh yeah, now everyone's got one in their pocket.

Speaker 1 (15:14):
If I were to record this on the team bus,
I would have been kicked off for the rest of
my entire career from that previous stop. This is a
coming up the ladder type of story. Guys. That was
Thanksgiving our first show.

Speaker 3 (15:26):
Since then, yeah, good fat and happy.

Speaker 1 (15:30):
Turkey for I think turkey for you, Everett, turkey and
ham turkey and ham turkey for me, Al did turkey.
Matter of fact, you had an amazing standwich you put
in our group chat yes the day after, and I
responded with the Ross Geller gift from the TV show Friends,
because it looked like the quintessential moistmaker. Everything was on

(15:53):
that lup of bread.

Speaker 7 (15:55):
Everything that was on the Thanksgiving table was on that
bread except for a rugul. You throw the lit little
ruggle in there, just to give it that peppery taste
that it gives you two out side mayo on both sides.
There's no mayo in the thanks Giving table, but everything
else on the table between those two slices of bread fantastic.

Speaker 1 (16:14):
Now I did steak. I did mac and cheese. We
had roast and sweet potatoes. And for any of you
asking why do steak, well, here's the thing. I don't
mind turkey steak.

Speaker 2 (16:25):
Yes, thank you.

Speaker 1 (16:26):
Go right to the point, go right to the point.
But you don't have to have turkey to enjoy Thanksgiving.
You know, you don't have to even have ham to
enjoy Thanksgiving. It's what suits your fancy at the table.
So I mean, for me, I don't mind turkey. But
my ten year old spoke up and said, can we
have steak, which then led me and my wife to
having a conversation. I like steak, Amy loves steak. My

(16:48):
ten year old want a steak in the first place,
and my seven year old will try steak. Bottom line, done, boom,
everybody was happy. And then that goes right into my
dad's mac and cheese very next day for leftover, very
next day after that. And now I'm trying to work
off the five pounds I've gained roughly in about probably
the last to three and a half days or so.
But I mean, hey, calaries don't count for the holidays

(17:08):
or for Thanksgiving.

Speaker 7 (17:09):
Can I had this conversation with Bob Condor today. I said,
I said, you know that you got Thanksgiving them three
or four days after that, and then you have this
period of time between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Ware You're gonna
you're gonna have to make some ground up, Mike. You're
gonna have to get on that bike or do whatever,
use those crack and running shoes to burneth and run
in the quick way athletics.

Speaker 1 (17:28):
I've been putting the Brooks shoes on here. I'm getting
the work garage, workouts going coming. I'm just trying to
obtain net zero for cavalry gain by the end of that.
I'm not trying to gain more muscle. I'm just trying
to get like a net zero positive result as much
as I can. Anyway, all right, onto hockey. Last week, Yeah, finally,
let's let's get on to it. Loss against Dallas and

(17:50):
by the thinnest of margins, a lot of slav kolo
Chonak game winning goal or else, I believe that game
is going to overtime again. And then Edmonton and fortunately
the Oilers pulled away in the second period and the
result as a clunker and a four nothing loss. So
it leads us here to ask, at this point of
the season, after we talked about how real this team

(18:12):
is Thanksgiving check point, how much did that loss against
Dallas and Edmonton maybe swing the pendulum?

Speaker 4 (18:21):
Ah, you know, I don't think it swung it that much.
I think for me, you know, Lanes even said it,
You're not gonna win every game. You're not gonna go
eighty two and zero. You're gonna lose some games. He
even said, you're going to have the odd stinker. We've
talked on this program before about you're gonna have stinkers.

(18:42):
I remember an old coach said, you're never guaranteed to
blow someone out, but you're almost always guaranteed to get
blown out at least once a season. You just have
to time those stinkers pretty well. And I think for
the Edmonton game in particular, this is now the third
year in a row Edmonton has started at five hundred

(19:05):
just above, just below.

Speaker 3 (19:06):
Through twenty five or so games, they've not been very good. Well,
what's happened? They've gone off to the Cup final two
years in a row. Right, So, whenever you've got two
of the best players in.

Speaker 4 (19:15):
The world and the exhorted cast of characters that they do,
you can't take them too lightly. I think the Dallas
game was summed up as Lane Lambert said, and a
couple of plays, a couple of mistakes that you just
can't make so you know you're okay with the effort
and the Oiler game or the Stars game. The Oiler game,
for my taking was a bit too sloppy. I thought
there was a lot of muff passes, a lot of

(19:37):
again too selective and they're shot taking and all of that.
So you know, this is I think you put Saturday
behind you. You pick up and learn from the lessons
from last Wednesday against Dallas, and now you're about to
start a stretch of eleven games in nineteen twenty some
odd days starting on Thursday with Emonton again.

Speaker 3 (20:00):
So you can't afford to dwell too much. Yeah.

Speaker 7 (20:04):
I don't want to dwell too much either. If there's
something I'm dwelling on, it's probably the special teams. Uh
you know, zero and five in the in the Dallas
game and oh and six in the Edmonton game. That
that that's concerning a little bit. But uh I know that. Uh,
I know that's not my thing to be concerned about.
The team is concerned about that. I'd like to see
some improvement there. But I think that you also saw

(20:26):
some fantastic defense defensive games.

Speaker 3 (20:28):
From from Seattle. Certainly in the Dallas game. It was
too bad that.

Speaker 7 (20:33):
The winning goal happened there late in the third period
or in the third period. When you watch the replay,
you see Adam Larson just like sacrifice his body to
get in front of that puck and it just misses
his left knee by a half of an inch, and
of course now he's become the screen and it finds
the back of the net. But his intent was to
stop that puck from every from ever getting to the net,

(20:54):
which he does so many times every game, and unfortunately
that one got by him.

Speaker 3 (20:58):
So that was that was just the pointing to see
how that ended.

Speaker 7 (21:01):
But the defense of the team really stood to me
in that Dallas game. And you're right that the Edmonton
game chopped that one up. With the six to one
loss to San Jose, a stinker of a game. You
put that one away and you go back to work
again against Edmonton this week.

Speaker 1 (21:15):
Because I go back here to the five on five goals,
which again the Kraken have been so good at with
maintaining and regulating as well. Thirty six they have allowed
all season long, and guests who they are tied with
for best in the league. That would be the ten
ton Wagon in the Colorado Avalanche. They got superstar power,

(21:37):
but they also know how to defend, which leads us
now onto the penalty kill. It is last in the
NHL as of Tuesday, December second. Guys, what do we
make out of it?

Speaker 3 (21:49):
Yeah?

Speaker 7 (21:49):
I mean this has been a strong part to this
team in past seasons. You know, you even saw us
offense get generated out of it sometimes with breakaway opportunities.
And for some reason over the last you know, a
half dozen games, maybe ten games, it's fallen flat a
little bit and gone backwards a little bit.

Speaker 3 (22:07):
It's tough to.

Speaker 7 (22:07):
Put your finger on one thing. If I was to guess,
or if I was to guess, if I was to
coach the penalty kill up, I would say attacking the
offense in the cracking end of the ice a little
quicker is what I see, and I know you see
it too.

Speaker 2 (22:23):
Up top.

Speaker 7 (22:23):
There is what I see when we play teams that
are very good on the penalty kill, Like those bump
passes as they're happening, there's a stick in the lane, yeah, right,
that puck that gets moved back to the point. You
know he wants to go demand demand, So the guy
on the far side is attacking that demen as the
puck's getting there.

Speaker 2 (22:42):
Attacking those puck.

Speaker 7 (22:44):
Carriers before they're getting the puck or as they're getting
the puck gives them no time to make a decision.
I think that that's that in blocking shots are the
two biggest things you can affect when you're improving your
penalty kill.

Speaker 3 (22:56):
Yeah, I think so too.

Speaker 4 (22:57):
And I think what, at least in the the Oiler
game that stood out to me was just the quickness
in which Edmonton moves the puck around.

Speaker 3 (23:06):
I think that is what speed on both the.

Speaker 4 (23:09):
Power play and the PK in the last handful of games,
I think is really what stood out to me. On
the power play side of it, Crackinger, oh, for the
last fourteen on the.

Speaker 3 (23:20):
Power play three for twenty nine of their last ten games.

Speaker 4 (23:24):
You're you're not getting the puck around fast enough, You're
not zipping it, You're you're not catching clean passes, you're
not getting in the one timer position, You're having to
catch passes in your feet and all of that. And
as all of us know watching this game, I mean,
this is a game of milliseconds, not seconds. Milliseconds, right,

(23:44):
And I think on the other side of that, the
kracking on the PK side, and again from from a
press box two hundred foot view in the sky, it's
a lot easier for us to see because the game
slows down.

Speaker 3 (23:56):
It's it's I think.

Speaker 4 (23:57):
We're being there, the Crackinger being beaten by other team
speeds their ability to zip the puck around. The crackt
have been finding themselves turned down turned around quite a bit.
It's not necessarily that they're out of position, it just
takes them a fraction of a second too long to
get into position to be able to disrupt a lot

(24:18):
of what other teams want to do.

Speaker 3 (24:20):
Well.

Speaker 7 (24:20):
Let's remember too, the last four games they've faced the first, second,
and third best power plays in the league. So if
there was a four game chunk on the on the
schedule where you say, hey, crack and penalty kill might
slide backwards, I would say probably the a four game
schedule where they're going to face the first, second, and
third best power plays in the league, it's likely to happen.

(24:42):
So now the next question is is can they get
back going the other way over this next stretch between
now and Christmas.

Speaker 4 (24:48):
And against against the Islanders two four, six, eight nine,
the Krakens snapped a nine game power play or I guess,
a nine game PK drought where they allowed a power
play in at least nine straight games they were zero
for zero or.

Speaker 3 (25:05):
They were two for two.

Speaker 4 (25:06):
Rather against the Islanders they were one for one. Against
the Dallas Stars. But now they were zero for two
against Edmonton. So after back to back games of not
allowing a power play goal, you allowed too. So you
now have allowed eleven power play goals in your last
what is this twelve thirteen fourteen games, So that I

(25:31):
thought's not good.

Speaker 1 (25:33):
I want to touch on something that happened late in
the Edmonton game, and it first basically is a whole
recap of what was a very very snarly game that
was building up over and over time, and eventually Freddie
Gudreaux Connor Clattenberg dropped the mits. That was a pretty
short lived fight, and you give Clattenberg a pretty big edge,

(25:53):
you know, I think admittedly so. And then Kartier had
a pretty good tilt as well. Not too long after
that a lanted some pretty impressive punches. But all of
this had seemed began to boil on the Mason Marchmint
hit on Darnell Nurse, Adam Henrik, it seemed as if
tried to go after him. There was no no, no

(26:14):
fight happening after that. Then Leon dry Settle goes after
march Mint second period and put a little bit too
much I was, I should say a little bit too
many exclamation points on the hit and then got nailed
for elbowing. But this is where I think when you
have a game and it kind of like leaves me
here in a bit of a throwback from ten to
fifteen years ago, when a score like that is lopsided,

(26:38):
that's when scores on the ice tend to get settled.
We had two fights happen out of that. So would
it be surprising or not surprising to see more of
this carry over into Thursday.

Speaker 3 (26:52):
I don't think so. I mean, I definitely think that
the Nurse Marchment history is not done.

Speaker 4 (27:02):
But you know, Alan I, I made a couple of
comments on the broadcast, and I need, I need to
phrase this very very carefully because I understand that that has.

Speaker 3 (27:13):
A place within the game.

Speaker 4 (27:15):
Right You're you're trying to settle scores, You're trying to
to get your team riled up back into what I
get it, emotions.

Speaker 3 (27:22):
Are high in the third period. I would have much
rather have seen that go after you were down three.

Speaker 4 (27:31):
Nothing in the second, or or after you know, midway
through two you wanna you want to start to mix
it up and get in there. Great, right, But in
the third period. I think it's already too late. I
know that you're playing the same team the next night, lady,
the next night, the next game, so you know you're
trying that to settle or put an estimation point on

(27:51):
that there maybe prevent some things happening there. But I
also look at the fact that you know what, Marshman
and Darnield nurse Nurse didn't like to hit all right,
Credit Marchmant for not taking the bait, you know, and
at the end of it he ended up getting drawing
a penalty on dry sidle and and all of that. Right,
I give Marchman all the credit in the world for

(28:13):
doing that. But on the other side of it, listen,
if the guy doesn't want to go, he doesn't want
to go, say what you want, call him what you want.

Speaker 3 (28:19):
But after a while, what are we doing here? Like
you're following this guy around.

Speaker 1 (28:23):
It was clear that Marchmint was in Edmonton's head all
day long.

Speaker 4 (28:26):
Yes, and again good on good on two seven. But
at the end of the day, move on, right, you
want to get your pound the flesh. You want to
grab him and you know, give him a big hit
against the wall, give him a couple slashes after the whistle. Great, fine, whatever,
but this was it was getting comical to a point
where Nurse and march Mint were still slapping sticks off,

(28:51):
face offs, and I'm like, buddy, both of you like,
go to your corner, go to your corner.

Speaker 3 (28:56):
We'll like again, I get it.

Speaker 2 (29:00):
This has a.

Speaker 3 (29:00):
Place, but it's for nothing, right, what are we doing here?
Let's just go home? It's you know what I mean.
I got it's two o'clock, three o'clock.

Speaker 4 (29:09):
When it's on a Saturday, I get a rare Saturday
night off with my son, like I want to go home.

Speaker 3 (29:14):
What are we doing here?

Speaker 1 (29:15):
I got my Christmas lights on up that night? And
this man pushed it back further.

Speaker 2 (29:19):
I was, I was.

Speaker 4 (29:20):
I love the response from Carts and Freddie. We'll talk
about that later. I love the response by them. I
love the fight in the krake. But at a certain point,
I'm just looking at this and I'm like, guys, you've
made your point. Can we can we move on here?
I'll see you Thursday, right, pick it up from there.

Speaker 7 (29:38):
I wonder how much the Thursday game played into that,
because when I think about playoff series, game one of
a series, like you could be losing it for nothing.
It's not like it's going to be late in the
third period and go, well, we'll just pack it in
and let them run all over us the rest of
this game. Like you know, you're seeing them again for
game two, Game three, game four, and you want to say,

(30:00):
we're not going to allow you to walk all over
us in our own building. We're gonna stand up for
each other. We didn't like what you So that's going
to carry through until the end of the third period,
regardless of what the score is.

Speaker 3 (30:10):
I agree, I want.

Speaker 7 (30:11):
To see more of it in the first period and
less of it in the third period. I don't necessarily
want it to go away in the third period. So
I think two things can be true. But especially when
you're going to see that team a few days later
back in their barn, I think you want to you
want to make sure that that message is clearly sent
and let's not forget.

Speaker 4 (30:29):
Let's not forget either, Like March Ben and Nurse, this
wasn't something that happened on Saturday.

Speaker 1 (30:34):
This goes back back last season, goes back last season
Dallas Edmonton playoff series, when Nurse and Rantnam got into it.

Speaker 3 (30:42):
Marchmant went in and tried to do what he could.

Speaker 4 (30:45):
So you know, obviously march Ben's on this team in
Seattle now, but there's friends all over the league, and
you try to take my buddy, you try and take
my buddy's head off.

Speaker 3 (30:56):
I haven't forgotten, you know what I mean. Like, listen
the Tannev brothers. Okay, someone goes after Chris Tannev like
Brandon's my brother.

Speaker 4 (31:05):
I'm not gonna I'm not gonna not take that, you
know what I mean.

Speaker 3 (31:09):
So again, I'm not saying that that march Mitt was
sticking up for Rantonan.

Speaker 2 (31:14):
But listen, they.

Speaker 4 (31:15):
Had a big of a beef back in the playoffs
last year, so who knows where this came from. Again,
I liked march Bett's ability to get under their skin. Unfortunately,
Edmondson got the last laugh with the four nothing win,
but it was getting, in my humble opinion, it was
getting a bit silly as we got into the last

(31:38):
five minutes of the third period and they're still stick
whack at each other, Like, guys, it's over, it's already
four nothing.

Speaker 3 (31:45):
Save it for Thursday. I want to go home.

Speaker 1 (31:47):
This is also where the officials, I think, need to
be given a little a little bit more credit here
because we tend to ignore them when things are going well,
and only when there's a blown call that's when they
come into the spotlight here. But Tom Shabluski, Rady Hamilton
as well, Nurse and Marchman got ten minute misconducts at
seventeen oh one of period three. That's an officials message

(32:09):
they're keeping a leash on this game or else Pandora's
box is opening. And now you're getting concerned potential injuries.
Say if an absolute gong show breaks out.

Speaker 7 (32:19):
Well, I'll think for a second, the don't think for
a second that the referees don't know about that history
as well. So it's not just hey, it's late in
the game, what this game's over, let's put these guys
to send these guys to the shower. It's we know
the history of these players, and the game is out
of reach, and the ten minute misconduct sends them to
the shower, So let's just do that. So you know,

(32:40):
referees would never necessarily admit to that, but we see
it all the time.

Speaker 3 (32:44):
And I think last thing for me on this topic
is that I.

Speaker 4 (32:48):
Wouldn't it wouldn't surprise me to see things carry over
to Thursday. However, because Minnesota and Edmonton play tonight for
the Oilers, there's going to be a game in between.

Speaker 3 (33:03):
There's gonna be.

Speaker 4 (33:04):
A buffer in between, so maybe there's going to be
something else for Edmonton to be upset at.

Speaker 3 (33:09):
So maybe we move on.

Speaker 4 (33:12):
But I know, I know, but like, if you're not
gonna give me a line brawl off the opening face off,
let's move on.

Speaker 1 (33:21):
You still believe hockey players have long memories out.

Speaker 7 (33:24):
They have very long memories that can carry these overseason
to season.

Speaker 3 (33:28):
I listen, it's funny you say that. I remember.

Speaker 4 (33:31):
I've asked you questions before, like, hey, who's the one
guy that you.

Speaker 3 (33:35):
Still can't stand?

Speaker 4 (33:36):
And you were like, oh, back in nineteen ninety and
that's the bridge No, the goal song.

Speaker 3 (33:43):
From mc can Loops Blazers business.

Speaker 1 (33:45):
We'll be driving around that they still play that thing,
they still play that thing.

Speaker 3 (33:50):
I'll reach over and changed the channel. I hate that song.
I've talked to JT. Brown a couple of times and
I I'm not gonna I'm not gonna say.

Speaker 4 (33:59):
Who he's but there are a couple of players still
in the league that he's like, man if I was
still playing, don't let me catch in the train tracks.

Speaker 1 (34:08):
That's also how you begin to hate certain goal songs,
is that when it happens over and over and over
out Like I remember one of the one of the
coaches that Everett nice Share, Louis mass he's now coaching
in AHL San Jose, but he told me a long
time ago when he played in the us HL, there
was one team that had celebrate by Cooling the Gang
as their goal song, and they scored about probably eleven

(34:30):
or twelve times against them every I like that one
night cell year that every like twelve times he about
wanted to go upstairs, take a stick and absolutely pumble
the sound equipment system by the end of the game.

Speaker 3 (34:47):
Yep. Not interesting.

Speaker 1 (34:49):
At practice, we saw the crack ind do a little
bit of shuffling here. Not so much line rushes for
earlier today on Tuesday, but noticeable given the fact that
Mason Marchmant didn't skate today or yesterday. Brandon Montour hasn't
skated last two days. But Laine Lambert, he said, expects
him to play Thursday against Edmonton. So you take the
defensive Paris for what it's worth, and there was some

(35:11):
juggling going on here, But going back to Monday, it
looks as if Jared mccannon's back with Matty Veneers and
Jordan Eberley, Yonnie Newman maybe getting good a chance with
Shane Wright and Coppocaco Berkeley, Catton, Chandler Stevenson, Elie Tolbenen
together Ty Carcier, Freddie Gadreaux, Ryan Winterton. So depending upon

(35:31):
where Marshman slots in, if he does play or not Thursday,
it leads me here to Jaden Schwartz. How much have
the Kraken missed him last game? Plus?

Speaker 7 (35:41):
Yeah, I mean he's one of these guys where you know,
on the surface, outwardly you go, well, this is a
player that's getting older, and you know you don't expect
as much as anymore now.

Speaker 3 (35:53):
I think Jayden Schwartz is the.

Speaker 7 (35:54):
Kind of guy that you know, prepares for every game,
probably more than he did ten years ago. It takes
him a little bit longer to get his body ready,
it takes them a little bit longer to recover, but
he's doing everything possible to play at the top of
his game right now, and it was it was unfortunate
to see him go out because he affects the offense,
he affects the defense. He'll affect the power play, the

(36:16):
penalty kills sometimes. But you know what he brings is
is not just offense from the standpoint of Jared McCann's
got a great shot.

Speaker 3 (36:25):
You know. He brings the offense.

Speaker 7 (36:28):
From deflections, from rebounds, from getting the puck to the net,
from battling in front of the net for chaos reasons,
not necessarily even touch the puck on a goal, but
just for chaos reasons. And then you throw in his
defensive game as well, like he's all over the ice
and impacting the play all over. It's both ends miss
him for sure.

Speaker 4 (36:47):
Yeah, there's a there's a calmness that I think Jaden
Schwartz brings to a game, not only on the ice,
but off the ice as well. You know, he'll come
off of a morning skate or a practice or on
the plane.

Speaker 3 (36:59):
What's up shortz? He yo, boys, you know what I mean?

Speaker 4 (37:01):
Likes You know, he has this calmness about him, very much,
a leading by example way about him. You know, we
talked so much about the guys on this roster is
willing to block a puck and score off their face.
He's one of the guys that'll do it. But we'll

(37:22):
jump right back into the shift and keep on going right.
So you miss that, you miss them at both ends
of the ice. I think the lineups that we saw
again at least today in practice with the absence of
Marchmen will see what if anything happens Thursday and Edmonton.

Speaker 3 (37:37):
But I like this lineup.

Speaker 4 (37:40):
It goes back to a little bit of what made
this team successful.

Speaker 3 (37:44):
I like that fourth line.

Speaker 4 (37:46):
That is a greasy, grindy fourth line that can get
some offense for you. I like putting nineteen ten and
seven back together. You saw some you saw some success
with them last year. I was a little surprised eyes
in a good way to see them together last game
against the Oilers, and then the Newman line is very

(38:07):
interesting for me.

Speaker 3 (38:08):
I like. I like him there. You know, I've been
waiting to see a little.

Speaker 4 (38:13):
Bit more from him in a few other areas. And
I know that you know he's known for that shot.
When he can get that shot off, you know more
often than not he's going to be put in a
great a chance to score.

Speaker 3 (38:24):
But I like.

Speaker 4 (38:24):
Where he's at with that with that grouping to maybe
give him a little bit more responsibility, put him up
in the lineup a little bit more, and open his
game up a bit more. So I like it, you know,
from what we saw in practice today, I don't see
this as an overreaction. I don't see this as lane,
you know, trying to hit any kind of panic button

(38:46):
or trying to make this work or force the square
peg into a round hole. This is a very comfortable
lineup to me. And again we'll see if Mason Marshman
is back in or who comes out where he slots in.

Speaker 3 (39:00):
But at least from what I.

Speaker 4 (39:02):
Saw in the forty five minute session today, it was
a very promising forward group for the cracking.

Speaker 1 (39:08):
I'll tee this up for you in that lane. Lambert.
Just to kind of go back to what he was
saying earlier here to the media and on our show
a few moments ago, is that he still sees Yanni
Newman as a top six forward. It's just that he
has to earn more chances here and the opportunities will
certainly come. So maybe something is unlocked there once again

(39:28):
putting Shane Wright right back in the middle. And from
what you know and what I know talking with Coppocaco.
He is right now aching to get back on the
score sheet, and you figure you just get one or two,
maybe that gets them going into fifth gear.

Speaker 3 (39:45):
Yeah.

Speaker 7 (39:45):
I mean you got a couple of guys and you
just named them in Coaco and Newman that are both
trying to score more. I think they do it in
different ways. But Lane Lambert also said that that Newman's
the kind of guy who wuntched the puck. And you know,
I'll say, from one hundred and fifty feet up, I
don't see it as much because oftentimes you can see
guys yelling for the puck, but it could be in

(40:08):
different ways that he wants that puck. And I think
that he has to want the puck not just from
the standpoint of let me hang out at the top
of the blue of at the top of the circles
waiting for a one time, or he has to want
the puck from the standpoint of I'm going to be
first into the corner on the fore check. I'm gonna
throw a big body check. I'm going to come up
with that fifty to fifty puck. I'm gonna feed it
back to the point. Then I'm going to battle to

(40:29):
get to the front of the net. I want it
back on my stick. On a deflection, I'm going to
find the rebound and I'm going.

Speaker 3 (40:34):
To bury it. He has to want the puck that
way as well. And I think this also too.

Speaker 4 (40:38):
You look at the absence of Jaden Schwartz, this could
be an opportunity for a guy like Yannie Newman to
use his size to develop more of a Jaden Schwartz.

Speaker 3 (40:48):
Type of game to his game.

Speaker 4 (40:51):
Now, Coppocco or sorry, Yannie Newman can go to the
front of the net. Now Yannie Newman can be first
in the corners, right. I think we talk so much
about whenever a guy gets taken out of the lineup,
whether it's injury by choice or or not by choice,
every coach will tell you, well, this is an opportunity
for player X to step up and do more. And

(41:12):
I think this is a perfect opportunity for another winger,
in this case, it's Yanni Newman to maybe add another
layer to his game and you know, going to a
dirty area, going to a corner, going in front of
the net, and developing that part of his game even more.

Speaker 1 (41:31):
We're gonna get to Jason Botterral here in just a
little bit, and I had a great, great thing that
came to my head. I wanted to address off the
top with how much structure plays into this team's advantages.
We get deeper and deeper into the season, we're playing
in a condensed schedule type of year because of the
Olympic break, and it doesn't matter whether it's here, whether

(41:54):
it's Vancouver, whether it's in Dallas, whether it's in Florida, Ottawa, Toronto,
it really doesn't matter what team. They're really going through
one right now as far as the injury bug. And
then once you get past the Olympic break, who knows
who's going to survive that crush in Olympic competition, and

(42:15):
then you have to jump right back into play late
February or the condemned schedules back, and then you have
the crush of the playoff race. Just think of one team,
the Kraken have in their division, and they've got top
end players in high demand all across the globe, the
Vegas Golden Knights, and they're on the struggle bus right now.

(42:38):
They could easily pull this back together. Because some teams,
some executives, some prognosticators see them as an aircraft carrier
type of team like Edmonton or all they gotta do
is just flip the switch. But this leads me into
this and how much it really plays into the crack
and hands based on their system, based on their structure

(43:00):
to be able to level the playing field against teams
going through the injury bug. I mean, surprising maybe, but guys,
how surprised are we to see this amount of injuries
a season.

Speaker 4 (43:11):
I'm surprised with the amount of long term injuries right.
I feel like every single there's not been a single
day to day that I've seen. Everything's been week to week,
four to.

Speaker 2 (43:23):
Six, six to eight.

Speaker 4 (43:24):
Guys are missing months off off the hop here. That's
been surprising to me.

Speaker 3 (43:30):
I think with condensed schedule as we've seen.

Speaker 4 (43:34):
So far, that the number of injuries hasn't surprised me.
But I'll tell you this right now, every time we
go through this, every time there is an international competition,
every time there was an Olympic break, someone inevitably always
gets hurt.

Speaker 3 (43:48):
Right, someone will get hurt.

Speaker 2 (43:50):
You hope that it's not for long term.

Speaker 4 (43:53):
You hope that it's not one of the stars of
your league that will fill visiting Barnes. But at the
end of the day, we're gonna have somebody from Canada,
the US, Sweden, or Finland, the big ones right that
that supply ninety percent of their teams to the NHL.

Speaker 3 (44:09):
Someone's gonna get hurt. And I think at the end
of the day.

Speaker 4 (44:12):
The Cup winner this year, the playoff behemoth this year
might not be your stereotypical oiler Golden Knight. I mean,
it might be Colorado for all we know, but it
wouldn't see it might. It would not surprise me one
bit to see the second wild card that snuck in
on the season's last day, but they've just been the

(44:34):
healthier team.

Speaker 3 (44:35):
Would not surprise me at all to.

Speaker 4 (44:37):
See them get to June and get to the final,
right because I think this year, I mean, talent always
wins out. Obviously, the best team always wins, but I
think this year there's going to have to be some
combination of the best team but also the healthiest team
that's going to ultimately have success. And I think the

(44:58):
Olympic break the team and listen, we all want our
teams to be represented. I want to cheer on my
players internationally right now, depending on who you talk to,
it looks like Brandon Montour is the only crack in
North America state side for Team Canada that's going to
have a realistic shot to make the roster. I think Coppocaco,

(45:22):
Ellie Tolvenin are on Finland's radar. Coppocaco, Ellie Tolbnin, Brandon Montour.
I know that there's been some decord talk for Team
USA and their third goalie spot, but you know, it's
kind of a from a fan perspective, I want to
see the cracking represent it. But at the end of
the day, if you only have to worry about sending
two or three guys to the Olympics and you have

(45:43):
everyone healthy coming back, at the end of the day,
if it means a playoff run, if it means a
banner in your building, I'll take that.

Speaker 7 (45:51):
You know, you said the talent always wins out, and
I agree with that, but I think that to your
point about the health of the team, it's the talent
that you can put on the.

Speaker 3 (45:59):
Eye that wins out.

Speaker 7 (46:00):
And we're seeing it all over the league this year,
Like look at Buffalo Winnipeg five to one. Why Connor
hell Buck's out, You know, like a key piece to
that team's success is out long term. And you know,
you don't hope for injury for anybody, But you think
about these teams that are wagons that are top of
the top of the league right now. You think, well,

(46:22):
they've got a superstar, or they've got a great goaltender,
or they've got you know, a superstar defenseman. If that
person got injured, what would happen? You know what if
it was for a couple of months, what would happen
with that team? Would they still be a Cup contender?
And I think that's an indicator of the parody of
the league right now, is you're you're one superstar injury
away from dropping from first to fifth in a few weeks.

Speaker 4 (46:45):
The Cracking right now are three point shy of being
in first place and two points out of a playoff spot.

Speaker 3 (46:55):
Let me pull up the things.

Speaker 4 (46:56):
Yeah, so the Cracking right now have got the second
log guard. Right now, Seattle is five points back of
first and they are one.

Speaker 3 (47:06):
Point up on Edmonton to being out of the playoffs.

Speaker 4 (47:10):
Right So listen, it's so tight it is razor thin
this year in a lot of these divisions.

Speaker 1 (47:17):
How far have they come? How's a trademarket? Looking what
about Berkeley Canton's progress and much more well. Earlier today
at crank In Community ice Plex ever at al myself
all caught up with Crack and general manager Jason Botterrell.
All right, without further ado, A big pleasure to be
joined now by Crack and GM Jason Bottrell past the
quarter checkpoint here of the season. Jason, thank you very

(47:38):
much here for doing this. And I first want to
just kind of, you know, edge our way in just
by saying that we're in a pretty you know, massive break,
it feels like right now for the schedules. Some guys
went off and did their own thing for Thanksgiving, but
how was your break for a few days as well?

Speaker 6 (47:49):
It was great to had a lot of family members
out here and no catching at PWHL game. Obviously having
two home games was a lot of excitement, so it
was a great week overall.

Speaker 1 (48:00):
I just enjoyed the PWHL opener.

Speaker 6 (48:02):
Well to me, I have two daughters who both play
the game, so they love being out there and just
the energy of it. We went to a game in
Detroit last year they had about fourteen thousand, so to
have sixteen thousand, you just see the passion the skill
level that's out there, and enthusiasm the crowd. It was
a great experience.

Speaker 1 (48:18):
It was a memorable day for this city, this landscape,
this game as well to another off to a great
start here. Let's kind of get into this here and
let's talk Lane Lambert. First off, what have you learned
about him that maybe people didn't know about him around here,
say maybe about five months ago.

Speaker 6 (48:34):
Well, I think overall, Lanes delivered what was sort of
expected from him. He's brought intensity to our group. He's
brought a work ethic. I think our team has a
clear identity that there's going to be a battle, We're
going to be strong defensively as a team and go
from there. I think just what I really enjoyed working
with him on is the development of our younger players.

Speaker 3 (48:55):
There is an.

Speaker 6 (48:56):
Intensity during the games with Lane, but in the off days,
it's what are the folks on what do we have
to continue to help these younger players make the next
step in their careers. And to have that engagement with
myself with the players has certainly been enjoyable and I
think it's going to help out our organization moving forward.

Speaker 1 (49:12):
I love hearing from Lane Lambert that there's always more
than one way to win, and this team's got the
defensive part down pat Many people are asking it gives
this team an edge, But as we get deeper into
the season, maybe how much And kind of what we're
getting at here is, as we get deeper into the season,
where do you get the sense about the type of
game this team has to play when teams are other

(49:34):
teams are getting settled into their game, and now that
stacks up against the rest of the NHL.

Speaker 6 (49:38):
Well, I think the fact that we've our players, our
coaching staff has set up a defensive system, I think
just allows us to get more confidence in it. It
allows us to certainly be a part of games, gives
us an opportunity to win games every night. I think
we've talked about it from the get go. We're going
to have to be a group of a collaboration. From
a Ford perspective, I just think back to the game

(50:02):
against Chicago a week or two ago. Like you know,
you have different players stepping up in different roles or
defensemen have contributed in key situations. Having a young player
and that game, a guy like Oscar molgarg be a
part of getting the first goal, sort of going there,
We're going to have to have different people sort of
step up, you know. But what I like about our
group is I think we have We've had success with

(50:23):
our defensive system. We know how to play that system.
Now it's hey, how are we working on other elements
of our game? How are we working on our special
teams a little bit more? How are we working on
from an offensive standpoint? But it always goes back to
that defensive structure, and I think our I appreciate that
our players have understand how we have to win games
and continue to work with our coaching staff on that.

Speaker 7 (50:44):
Jason, this team looks mostly similar from last season, but
is playing very different and having a lot of success
doing it. What piece of the puzzle, if you will,
are you out there looking for that might push this
team to that next level?

Speaker 6 (50:57):
Well, I think internally you're you're always looking just more
from our younger players and continue their development. From that standpoint,
I think we've always looked at like we feel very
comfortable with our goal tolling right now. I think our
defense court were you know, earlier in the year with
Josh Mhura and Fleurian they did an excellent job and
then once Alexiak's come back that's sick has been very stable.

(51:18):
From that standpoint, I think we're we're just always continue
to look at different mixes.

Speaker 3 (51:23):
From our forward group.

Speaker 6 (51:24):
You know, we've run into injuries. The rest of the
leagues run into injuries and stuff too. We've talked so
much about it, just not only in Seattle here but
down in Coachilla Valley, the importance of continuing to develop
our forwards because we're going to need them over you know,
the next two months here especially, you look at it,
I think starting Thursday, we play eleven games in twenty nights.
You get into January seventeen games, and then that month

(51:45):
more injuries are going to a rise. So it's going
to be important that we have the depth from that
ability there. So continue just to make a different adjustments.
I think to our forward group is something that we
continue to look at.

Speaker 4 (51:56):
Six months for you now, coming up on six months
for you now on the job in the GM chair,
what have you learned about not only yourself in your
second stint as GM, but also how has the league
changed since you were in Buffalo pulling the strings there.

Speaker 6 (52:09):
Well, I think it's the job has been an easier transition,
just because I was so familiar with the organization. I
knew the players in the organization, the staff members continue
to work very closely with Ron on all matters here
and stuff. So it just made that transition that much easier.
I think you just look at the league. You know,
you continue to see a year ago. You look at
the twenty twenty six free agent market, it's gonna be

(52:30):
a great year, right, and then everyone gets signed up
and you see just the parody within the league, but
the importance of the canue development of your younger players.
You look at the some of the teams in the
West that sort of taking a step this year, it's
the young players that they continue to develop, and you know,
from my perspective, I think it's exciting. I think you

(52:52):
look at you know, maybe at the start of November,
there was a couple of teams that you sort of think, oh,
you know, they're off to tough start.

Speaker 3 (53:00):
Where are they going to be at?

Speaker 6 (53:01):
Then they have a great November, a team like Minnesota
that we're going to see next week, and you're like, wow,
they're right back in the mix here now, in the
battle there and stuff. So I think there's ebb and
flows throughout the league. But it's it's a very competitive
league right now, and I think pretty much every night,
you know, fans are have a belief that their team
can win. So it's it's fun from a fan perspective,

(53:22):
very stressful from a coaching and management perspective.

Speaker 4 (53:24):
And from I guess a smaller organizational that you have
been here since since the beginning and seeing this team
go from inauguration to now, what have you learned and
what have you seen from this organization? What are some
of the big differences that you've seen from day one
to now, you know, almost midway through year five already.

Speaker 3 (53:43):
Yep.

Speaker 6 (53:44):
Well, I think we've continued to work on from a
standpoint of having our veteran players lead the charge. But
now you're you're seeing all these players that we've talked.

Speaker 3 (53:51):
About right like heys are coming, kids are here.

Speaker 6 (53:55):
You know, just you look at a player like you know,
Ryan Winterton from our first draft now joining Maddy Beinier's
and Ryker Evans. It's in it's a difficult part in hockey,
right It's it's what's so different compared to the NFL.
It takes such a long time drafting eighteen year olds
to eventually get there. The fact that now we're not
just talking about, you know, sort of fictitious scenarios and

(54:15):
what Ryan Winterton could be at the national hockeygu level.
We're actually seeing that and that gets us excited, right.

Speaker 4 (54:21):
Uh.

Speaker 6 (54:21):
You know, a guy like Oscar Moguard, we talked about
him a couple of minutes ago, like most of our
fans would probably be like, who is this guy? You know,
a Danish kid playing over in Sweden, right and now
you know, you see preseason games, you see him in
the National Hockey League games. That that gets us excited
from that standpoint. But I think what we've just continued
to try to find that balance as an organization on
you know, we still have some players from that inaugural year.

(54:45):
They have the history of winning Cups in different organizations
and then having I think we're seeing the importance of
having a strong American Hockey League team that has you know,
played playoff success. Like you know, whether it's Shane Wright,
whether it's Ryker Evans, whether it's Joey to these players
got a lot of confidence being on those playoff runs
down there, and now they get up I think it

(55:07):
just gives them, I think, more confidence when they're in
big games here at the national hockeygu level.

Speaker 1 (55:11):
Jason Bottrell joining us here on Cracking Weekly. Jason, you
weigh a pretty delicate balance in between trying to remain
competitive but also usher the younger kids, the younger players
here into the mix. So as we get deeper into
the season and this team is still as well in
the mix. How real do you think it is to
be active in the trade market for upgrades this year
versus waiting it out and going for even more next

(55:32):
offseason when you have the cap going up in other
factors to play as well.

Speaker 6 (55:36):
No, and the one thing I just I would push
back a little bit on. I believe our development helps
us win hockey games, and I think it's it's always
a fine balance of way. When does a player need
to be in the American Hockey League work and when
they come up National Hockey League. I think you see
a lot of our players, especially a guy like Ryan Winterton,
playing different roles penalty kill and anything like there you
still want to continue to develop his offensive game, and

(55:58):
that's what I give our staff a lot of credit
behind the scenes, things that maybe our fans don't see
on game, but on off days, just our staff working
with Ryan on his puck skills, working on his offensive
game in and around the net, but also through video too.
So I like that our staff continues to, Hey, how
can Ryan help our team right now in the nationalc League?

(56:18):
How do we continue to work with Ryan so he
helps us down the road from there. But look, it's
a scenario that we're continuing to look at, you know,
in the trade market, on things that we can add
to our group and add different mixes to our group.
We have over the years certainly accumulated draft picks that
we hey, we're certainly open to taking draft picks, but
also utilize them in different trades from the area. So

(56:40):
it's something that we continue to look at. But the
one thing I continue to push back and the one
thing I love that our coach staff is believed in
is like, hey, we develop these kids. That helps us
win a lot of hockey games, hopefully even this year.

Speaker 1 (56:50):
Here's a guy growing right now before our area as
his name is Berkeley Catton. Yep, what benchmarks has he
hit that's made a big impression with you the rest
of this staff, And what do you think that as
an organization he had to look through before deciding if
the World Juniors for him is say, maybe a right
fit for him.

Speaker 6 (57:06):
Well, look, uh, you know, Raw and myself, we're proud Canadians.
He always, you know, want to help out your country
in those scenarios and stuff for sure too. Second of all,
and let's be honest with the Americans, I believe haven't
went back to back, So it's just a little challenging.
A few a few people on my staff have brought
that up to you a few different times. But in

(57:28):
all reality, like from every week, we continue to look
at what's best for for Berkeley's development, you know, it's
when we uh and and what I've loved about Berkeley
is he's bought into this whole process, right, you know,
it's been disgusted a little bit before. But like he
worked so carefully with our player development staff last year
when he was having huge numbers in Spokane and on
the run and that had to be the main focus

(57:50):
was to help that team win. But behind the scenes
again and off days, he was focusing so much on
what are the things I got to do with the puck,
what I got to do to utilize my speed more
in different areas to be ready for the Ational Hockey League,
and then at the start of the year we add
him to our team. We don't play him right off
the bat. He's learning from no scenarios. And you know,
I just remember a scenario being up in Montreal. I
believe it was game three or so in the season,

(58:12):
and Ron Francis is talking to him and between the intermissions,
and you just see the hockey sense.

Speaker 3 (58:16):
Between those two individuals, right.

Speaker 6 (58:18):
You know, Ron's talking about different things on the ice
and Berkeley's already seen that type of thing and seeing
from there that standpoint, and what I've really loved with
his game is he's taking all this knowledge from our staff.
He's taking he makes a mistake on the ice, he's
certainly not perfect, he's not making the mistake the second time.
Maybe the goals haven't come, but it's not because of
opportunities he's in around them in that he's going into

(58:40):
different areas there, he's creating opportunities. I think you're seeing
him utilize the speed even more, you know, every night
out there and stuff. So that gets us excited of
where his games continue to develop. I love that our
staff is continuing to utilize them both at center and wing,
just to try to free him up from an offensive
standpoint a little bit because we see the hockey, since
see the plays and then does he win? Everyone want

(59:02):
a battle? No, but there's no fear in his game.
That's probably the one thing that I've been really impressed
for Technically a smaller player, he's gone into the battles,
he's attacked, he's been aggressive all over the ice, and
so No, it's been a pleasure working with him, and hey,
he's been a big part of our group, especially over
the last couple of games.

Speaker 7 (59:18):
Jason, the three goalie experiment maybe not the elephant in
the room, but the small elephant in the room seems
to be a genius move at this point, based on
Matt Murray being injured. Right now, You've you've got three
goaltenders that have hovered above the nine hundred level and
save percentage. Do you see this something that the krack
and want to keep in place for the for the
whole season? Is this a temporary thing?

Speaker 3 (59:39):
Your thoughts?

Speaker 6 (59:40):
Well, I think it's serimilar to what we just talked
about Berkeley. Right You're you're evaluating week by week, and
you know at if there was a situation where we
might have gotten into injury situation and for defense, we
might have to make a different move. But I believe
our goaltending has given us great opportunities to win games
this year. I don't want to take anything from Joey,

(01:00:00):
but I think it's easier for Joey being in a
rhythm as a number one goalie. I give a lot
of credit to both Gruby and Matt Murray after staying ready,
and it's it's something that I want to go with to.
I understood how many games than the condensed schedule, but
I'm also sitting not sitting here and saying that it's
an easy process for those guys and the fact that
they stayed ready in practice, they stayed sharp with our

(01:00:22):
with Colin Zulian or our goalie coach, that he stayed
dialed in with him on what these guys needed. I
whenever they stepped in, they did a great job with it,
and I think they they earned a lot of respect
for staying ready. From that standpoint, you know, I was
glad that, you know, especially with Matt, we didn't give
him much run support whenever he got in there right way.
But again he stayed even keel with it. And I

(01:00:43):
think both those guys and both Gruby and Matt, they're
sort of focus on their own games, focus on stay
even keeled and not getting frustrated with the situation really
benefited them and it certainly has benefiting our team.

Speaker 7 (01:00:57):
Now, did did the condensed schedule factor into that decision
to have three goaltenders?

Speaker 3 (01:01:02):
One hundred percent?

Speaker 6 (01:01:03):
Right, one hundred percent from a standpoint of you know,
you just knowing that you're going to have to utilize
your goalies, there's always the risk of injury. Unfortunately Matt
I was playing so well. It's disappointing from that by hey,
we're hoping to get them back whenever we can here.
And then the second part is just you know, the
development of our you own goalies too. I think there's
a time and place where the American Hockey They can

(01:01:25):
really help out goalies. I think having two sort of
veterans in Grooby and Matt, like the American Hockey League
isn't really needed for their their development, but it's needed
for Coco's development and for Oustmin's development. And uh, those two,
we wanted to make sure that we weren't taking games
away from them at the American hockey level, and like

(01:01:45):
I said, it's it's easy for a manager to talk
all of out the stuff to have a coach and
players actually buy into it and make it successful. That's
where they've done a great job this year.

Speaker 4 (01:01:55):
Speaking of those two, we've seen Austman, We've seen Coco
last year, We've seen a lot of the draft picks
and the prospects come up.

Speaker 3 (01:02:03):
Who's next?

Speaker 4 (01:02:03):
Who are you looking at down in Coachella Valley to
be that next first call up for them?

Speaker 6 (01:02:08):
Well, I would say at the Ford group, what we're
so excited about the group down there is we feel
we have a huge mix, right. It's not just one player,
It's not just this specific type of player. We have
a lot of players who are putting themselves in situations
now where they're in a call up discussions, and it
started depending what we need you have. You've seen Oscar
Mogard already just from a two way PK element. You know,

(01:02:33):
Fercus has taken a huge step from an offensive standpoint.
Him and Morrison have a lot of chemistry together and
like their go to players down there right now from
us from an offensive perspective, Jacob Mollanson brings a physicality
with a veteran player like John Hayden, it's great to
see that, you know, instead of just rely on on
our veterans Ben Myers, John Hayden, Mitchell Stevens, these guys
who we know can certainly do it. It's great that

(01:02:55):
our younger kids, their first year and second year players
have now pushed themselves into that role and stuff. The
little disappointed with ed Shala that he was injured at
the start of the year. Now he's come back into mix.
That's great to see. So at a Ford perspective, we
feel it's almost more of a like, Okay, what do
we need from that role?

Speaker 3 (01:03:11):
Is there?

Speaker 6 (01:03:11):
What type of you know, player do we need at
the National Hockey League to be that call up on
the back end? Octa Vanon was injured for a little bit,
Nelson was injured for a little bit. But those two
guys on the right side have certainly helped us out
a lot. And then we got some a lot of
young players. You look at our do you look at
our defense card down there right now? As a rookie effort,
We think Ty Nelson as a second year player is
a wily veteran right, But I give them credit. I

(01:03:34):
give our coaching staff and Coachella Valley a lot of credit.
They continue to work with these players, don't get fresh
at they make mistakes. But you also see in every
game you see a little moment like oh, that's that's
what the crack and seeing them right like oh, I
see the physicality and Hammel, Oh, I see jug Nath
making that play price on the PK. Excellent job. Like
you see in each game. The's got these young defensemen
making the right plays and uh, to me, they've done

(01:03:57):
a great job down there and we're very happy with him.

Speaker 7 (01:03:59):
Tilt by ham that was.

Speaker 3 (01:04:00):
Great one too. I love that. I got one more
for you.

Speaker 4 (01:04:04):
And from from a league perspective, next year we're going
to eighty four games of the regular season. Obviously you've
got NHL players going into the Olympics. Are we going
to have another World Cup? Just from a league perspective,
what are what are the big topics being discussed in
your meetings and you see your thoughts on where this
league is going in terms of growth and development not

(01:04:24):
only in the on the ice, but in the community
in the public as well.

Speaker 3 (01:04:28):
Well.

Speaker 6 (01:04:29):
I think what you're seeing is just I think you've
seen a lot of young players come into the league
and then but then you still have these veteran players.
You know, whether it's the chase last year with Ovi,
obviously Crosby I think right now is third in NHL scoring.
It's amazing these superstar veteran players continue to do right.
So you had this amazing balance of veterans, you know,
whether it's because of the Olympics a year just being

(01:04:50):
focused on that, versus these young kids coming into the
league and just you know, there's no sort of growth
they're they're coming in right away and make an impact.
And to me, that gets that's exciting for so many
different fan bases. We talked touch on it earlier, the
parody in the league. You look at, yeah, we've been
happy with our record, we've been happy how our team's played,

(01:05:10):
but it's still a situation where you're a couple points
out of the playoffs and you're a couple of points
of being in first place. It's it's amazing that balance,
but I think that's great for all our fan bases.
I think it's great that you know you're not a
month in the season and you're already looking at next
year's draft. It's okay, what are the pieces we have
to add? What are we making adjustments to get back
in the playoff race? So I think all these things
lead into just it's the rival we talked about a

(01:05:33):
little bit earlier in Canada US right the Four Nations
last year was a huge hit.

Speaker 3 (01:05:37):
You know.

Speaker 6 (01:05:38):
I believe the Olympics is going to be a home
run too from that perspective, and it's an exciting time
just to be a part of our sport.

Speaker 3 (01:05:44):
Right now. Are the Kraken going overseas? When are we
gonna go to Sweden or Finland? I can't wait for
that that global series trip.

Speaker 8 (01:05:52):
One of these questions that the fans want, Yeah, is
there a little personal you know in the Yeah, I
love seeat or they'll get me wrong, but you know,
all my other broadcaster.

Speaker 3 (01:06:04):
To tell the story.

Speaker 1 (01:06:06):
Wrapping things up, Jason, you said that you're happy with
the progress made. What's the biggest key for this team
to sustain success this season?

Speaker 6 (01:06:13):
I think it's continuing what we've talked about. It's no
secret it's it's continuing our game from an offensive standpoint,
and it's not I think sometimes people think well, you
got to score more, you got to take more risks. No,
it's it's playing our system. It's it's continuing to Hey,
maybe end plays a little bit quicker in our D zone,
so we get other ds on our an area where
I think we focus on a little bit more as
our fore check, like you know that, I think there's

(01:06:34):
more opportunities there to you know, have a little bit
more sustained offensive zone time there. I think if you
do look at the numbers overall, we're okay from an
offensive zone time standpoint, but we have to just get
that high danger area right in front of the net.
We get a little bit more traffic there. That's certainly
where we miss a player like Jays Schwartz. He's no
matter what his stature is, he's there battling in those spots.

(01:06:56):
It's where we're excited to have Coco back in our lineup,
just to give a bit more of a NetFront presence
there and stuff too. We've done a great job in
sort of protecting that area in the A D zone.
It's where we have to attack a little bit more.
And then I think the coaches will certainly agree with you.
Like our special teams have to improve. You know, we
feel we have good plead players in those roles, but

(01:07:17):
we've battled so hard at five and five at even strength.
We have to make sure that special teams continue to be,
you know, an element that helps us win hockey games.

Speaker 1 (01:07:25):
I will share this with you. I have lost Kenna.
How many fans have said, I'm having so much fun
watching this team win. A big pledge to you and
the staff, and thank you for your time. Jason, thank you,
thank you very much.

Speaker 3 (01:07:34):
I have a great day. Guys.

Speaker 1 (01:07:35):
My goodness, what a conversation we had with Jason botterrel
earlier today. We're going to look forward to getting with
them once again as the season progresses, and who knows
as far as where this calendar, where this roster turns,
as we get closer and closer here to trade deadline time,
the Olympic break, you name it here. But big thanks
once again to the Crack and GM for joining us
here on Cracking weekly. All right, look at ahead here

(01:07:55):
to Edmonton and Detroit, very very small packed schedule once again,
the Cracket on the road Thursday night and then back
home again for a big lump of home games this month,
opening up with the Red wings. So we're just gonna
get right into it here with our three stars and
final thoughts in this one. My third star, guys, I'm
gonna go with Berkeley Catton again. He is still searching

(01:08:18):
for his first career NHL goal, but he continues to
stack games where he is looking more and more like
an nhller. From minute one to minute sixty, I thought
he had a great chance off the rush in the
second period, n I thing his way through the oiler defense,
nearly parked one seven hold on Stewards Skinner and then
the breakaway, which I thought, and I was down there

(01:08:41):
right behind the net by my set, I thought that
was coming, and you tip your hat, you give credit
where credit is due, and Skinner made an impressive save.
But the more and more Catton controls the puck with
purpose and with confidence like that, it's going to happen
for that first goal, and I believe the numbers all
so will be coming very brief. Ty Cartier my second star,

(01:09:03):
and what was unfortunately an offensive starved week here for
the crack. But again something told me where when you're
down in a four to nothing game and things started
to get ugly, who was going to be the first
to answer the bell. This was maybe a big question
mark first, you know, year, two years, maybe three years
as well. And after the goodrou Clattenberg fight, it's then

(01:09:26):
Ragoula and Cartier and Cardha looked very impressive trading punches
when certainly the bell rang and his number was certainly
called in that instance. My first star now is Jared McCann.
We're still looking for that first goal back. But I
think about the first period where he got a stick
right into the choppers and joked with the media, joke

(01:09:47):
with me as well a day later where he felt
like that he nearly swallowed his tooth and came right
back out two minutes later, not just once, but twice,
almost scored, still had an assist as well to show
for his effort in that Dallas game. And I think
his game is trending in the right direction and you
can see, I mean, the rust coming out pretty quick here.

(01:10:09):
I think Jerry McCann's in a very very good spot
to get for his effort and then for a little
act of courage on top of that. He's my first
start here for the week.

Speaker 3 (01:10:18):
Yeah, I like, go ahead, good after no, I'm with you, Mike.
I was This was a tough one. This was a
tough week for me because of the lack of offense.
But I think I'm gonna go.

Speaker 4 (01:10:30):
I'm gonna go McCann three for a lot of those
same reasons you're waiting to get him back. He had
a couple of good shots, the almost swallowing his tooth.
I mean, listen that you're on my three stars list.
It takes a couple of games to knock off the rust.
So I would expect with games coming pretty hot and
heavy here over the next week, I think McCann's by

(01:10:51):
the time we record this, maybe in a couple of weeks.

Speaker 3 (01:10:54):
The next not this coming Monday, but the next Monday edition.

Speaker 4 (01:10:58):
I could see McCann with three or four more goals
over the next four five six games. I think number
two for me Berkeley Kadden again the same reason that
you mentioned. I mean, I'm waiting he should have three
or four. Every single game you're seeing something from him
that's like, yep, you you are at NHLO.

Speaker 3 (01:11:18):
You have earned your spot. You deserve to be here.

Speaker 4 (01:11:21):
He keeps doing things that show off the skill and
the type of player that he's going to be. He
still sometimes will make that nineteen year old mistake.

Speaker 3 (01:11:30):
I'm fine with it. You're eighteen games, twenty games in
your NHL career. You're gonna make these mistakes. But he's
learning from them, you know, Jason.

Speaker 4 (01:11:39):
I love what he said about him and Ron having
those moments in the locker room in between periods and you.

Speaker 3 (01:11:44):
Could see the hockey ike starting to swirl. Love that
my number one, even though it got on my last nerve.

Speaker 4 (01:11:51):
I'm gonna go the give a bleap meter, the team
toughness from Ty, from Freddie, and I'll put Marchie in
there for playing the brad mar shan rat annoying role
getting under Edmonton's skin. Give me all three of them
for the collective first star, grit sandpaper, give a blank

(01:12:13):
meter award, whatever you want.

Speaker 3 (01:12:16):
Let's go home now. Okay, we're done, and as Al said,
not a chance off the hop we're gonna get back
into it. But for an offensive starved week, those three
get my star. Yeah for me. Berkeley Catton's in my
mix as well. He was my third star this week.

Speaker 7 (01:12:32):
I thought he played his best two games this season
against Dallas and Edmonton, and he did not score, but
he came close. He had a breakaway. He had a
great one timer, which we hadn't seen him do yet.
I have a theory on it, and I was waiting
for him to score. But I'll share my theory now
we can talk about it more, maybe on the broadcast
on Thursday. My theory is is Brookeby Catton's game just

(01:12:55):
got elevated, not because of anything he did on the ice,
because what's happened off the ice. He's moved in with
Chandler Stevenson. Yeah, and I think that being around a
guy like Chandler Stevenson off the ice is going to
help his game on the ice.

Speaker 3 (01:13:11):
I think we're starting to see it already.

Speaker 7 (01:13:12):
So that's my That's my demarcation line for Berkeley Catton
this season is the Monday before Thanksgiving, before that Dallas game.
I believe that's when he moved in with with with
Channer Stevenson and his family. I think that's when things
started to change for Berkeley Catton. So we'll see how
that progresses here. Like just like the McCann comment, over
the next couple of a couple of weeks, my second

(01:13:35):
star shots on goal the Dallas game, the Crack had
twenty eight. It was twenty eight to twenty one. Even
though they lost the game, they outshot the Dallas Stars.
They out shot on nine to two in the third period,
So a big, a big change there. And then as
far as Edmonton goes, it was twenty four shots on goal,
but they matched Edmonton shot for shot, period for period,

(01:13:55):
you know, almost identical. I think by you know, within one.
So shot on goals seem to be a bigger priority lately,
and I think it's starting to show in those in
those tight games. And then my number one Stars Ben's done.
You know, he had that goal, two shots on goal,
and then a couple of a few block shots in
the Dallas game. But you know, he's a he's a reliable,

(01:14:16):
dependable defense been gaming and game out, and I'll like
give him at give him a few props when he
starts to put pucks in that as well.

Speaker 1 (01:14:23):
All Right, we got to bounce here cracking again facing
Edmonton Thursday ninth. That's gonna be a fun one. Hope
you can join us six pm Pacific time face off
from Rogers Place, Everett Now on the call there. I'll
be at Network Central five thirty airtime on your pregame
show is served up by Frostbrewed Corps Light Choose Chill.
Cracking back at home. Saturday, Detroit Red Wings are in town,

(01:14:45):
three game homestand opening up seven o'clock Pacific. Is your
face off six thirty airtime. Postgame, By the way, we
will be at Tom's Watchbar. Come across the street and
hang out with all and myself right smack after the game.
Big thank you once again to Jason Botterol for joining
us forever and now I might see you.

Speaker 7 (01:15:05):
You're home for the Kraken Sports Radio ninety three point
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